Angels and Hunters
by polkadotmonkey
Summary: Set in a world where angels are on earth after being cast from heaven millennia ago and hunted like common monsters. Whilst his family is out scavenging one day Castiel returns to a horrifying discovery. John Winchester and Bobby are involved. This leads to an awful turn of events for Castiel and his remaining family. Featuring Young!Angels, weechesters.
1. Chapter 1

**Set in a world where angels are on earth after being cast from heaven millennia ago, angel's age at the same rate as humans up until their 30****th**** birthday then it slows down for them, 10 years aging them about 1 year. Hunters hunt them like common (but very difficult to kill) monsters. Angels don't know why they are hunted as they are. **

**Anyway, basically Castiel belongs to a rather large family whose father disappeared under unknown circumstances leaving Michael, at the time only 18 alone having to care for his 7 younger siblings. In the beginning chapter Michael is 24, Lucifer is 20, Uriel is 17, Anna is 16, Gabriel and Balthazar are twins and 14, Castiel is 10, and Gadreel is 7.**

**Whilst the family is out scavenging one day Castiel returns to a horrifying discovery. John Winchester and Bobby are involved. This leads to and awful turn of events for Castiel and his remaining family. **

**\- (there's lots of description in this chapter by the way) **

They were happy in the general sense of things, all 8 of them, Michael, Lucifer, Uriel, Anna, Gabriel, Balthazar, Castiel and Gadreel. Michael the oldest, being about 24, to Gadreel the youngest, being about 7. Had they known what was about to happen a lot would have been different, Lucifer and Michael may not have argued so much, Gabriel and Balthazar may have spent more time with their siblings rather than running off and causing mischief, Anna and Uriel may not have been as aggressive and violent with their younger siblings. But no one can truly tell the future. Well, angels can't anyway.

They had taken shelter from the raging storm inside an old warehouse. Inside a metal bin they had started a fire and were now cooking a stolen chicken over the burning embers. Gabriel and Balthazar were, unsuccessfully, trying to distract the two youngest angels from the two oldest ones fighting.

"SCREW YOU MICHAEL" screamed the younger of the two

"HOW ELOQUENT OF YOU LUCIFER, I CAN REALLY FEEL THE MATURITY" yelled the other.

Gadreel was crying now, silent tears that he had learnt to use rather than full out brawling, which would earn him nothing but a harsh word or slap from either Anna or Uriel, starting yet another fight between the twins and whomever performed the action. Castiel was much more silent and sat dead still in Balthazar's embrace, this was how he reacted to yelling, he would freeze as if making sure the fight wouldn't somehow begin to centre on him, but if he was yelled at he would focus his attention on some object or action he was doing, as if unsure how to respond and so fiddling and quietly wishing for them to go away or stop.

Gabriel had managed to stop Gadreel's tears for now, handing the youngster to his twin he moved to check on the chicken. Fully grown angels barely, if ever, needed food but as all of the angels in this group were still growing, they needed to feed like humans. To an untrained eye, Gabriel would have appeared as if he were ignoring Michael and Lucifer's fight but he was always subtly turning his body so that out the corner of his eye he could see the fighting which he hated, no one likes to see their family fight, but for Gabriel there wasn't a choice of walking away, not now anyway.

The argument ended as quickly as it had begun. By 'ended' meaning Lucifer walking out the door, his mood matching the weather. Michael tidied himself up and strode over to the cluster of six that were positioned silently by the fire.

He bent down and picked up Gadreel well aware of how awkward his movements were as result of the silence. As he held Gadreel he began to bounce the little boy up and down murmuring "there there Gaddy, it's ok" to the obviously upset child, as Gadreel began to calm down Michael crouched down and ruffled Castiels little mess of blackish brown hair nodding at him with an encouraging smile which he also shared with Balthazar as he rose to a standing position again. The room still remained silent except from the crackling of the fire as Gabriel poked it.

Sensing they were awaiting him to speak, Michael hastily asked "Gabe, is the chicken done?" craving an end to the silence.

"Yeah, it's done" responded Gabriel

"So shall we eat" he said to the group. Each head nodded back and he heard Gadreel whisper 'yes' into his ear.

The group began to rip into the chicken using their hands, soon there was a steady conversation throughout them as they sat in a circle. The main speakers being Michael and Uriel. Unexpectedly there was a sudden uproar between Gabriel and Anna.

"Give" demanded Anna holding out her hand.

"Piss off" rebuked Gabriel clutching both of his own hands to his chest.

Michael stood up towering over them both, he had had enough fighting that evening.

"What's going on" he sternly said to both of the younger angels glaring at them.

Anna, the elder, spoke first. "He took extra meat!" she said pointing an angry finger at Gabriel. With such a large family there was little to go round and everyone got their equal share, unless you were ill, you didn't get any more than you were given.

Michael through a questioning glance at Gabriel, who would have been the last person he'd expect to take extra food. Guiltily Gabriel held out his hands revealing a whole extra portion of chicken.

"Why" asked Michael, sighing he crouched to be at eye level with his younger brother who was now avoiding his gaze and licking his lips nervously.

"I…" Gabriel paused, looking fearfully into his brothers eyes, Michael nodded beckoning his brother to continue. "I was gonna' save it for Luci" he stuttered and immediately as he said it his shoulders shot up as he tensed expecting a blow, which he received from Anna before gaining another from Uriel.

"That dick doesn't deserve food, he…" Michael cut Anna off with a glare while also restraining Balthazar, who had been about to thump Uriel in response to his twin being hurt.

"STOP" he bellowed, no one paid attention. Pushing Balthazar onto the floor Michael stood at his full height of 6'5 and extended out his massive ivory white wings to their full length of 13ft, he was practically radiating power. At this all were silent. "I would expect this from Cas and Gad, not from you" he said looking down at the fearful faces of Uriel, Anna, Balthazar and Gabriel while gesturing back to the younger siblings, Castiel and Gadreel had huddled together timidly during the ruckus. Realising he had their full attention now he finished the argument, "Gabe, I wouldn't have let Luci go hungry but it's nice to see your concern. Uriel and Anna, I can see you were trying to do the right thing, Anna, but neither of you should have hit your brother, and Anna, whatever anyone in this family has done until the day you are the oldest it is my decision on the punishment. Balthazar, I admire your loyalty to your twin." Silently he held out his hand to Gabriel wanting to take the meat from him, Gabriel obliged.

At this moment Lucifer decided to crash through the door, which landed him onto an odd scene of Michael standing with his wings fully stretched out over about half his siblings, all of which looked shocked. Gabriel had two red marks on his face, Balthazar was sprawled across the floor, Uriel and Anna both looked a bit upset as if they had just been scolded, and Castiel was hugging his younger brother as if his life depended on it. The room was silent except from the crashing of the storm, all eyes fell on him.

Lucifer held his hands in a steepling position and breathed in as if he were about to say something, he paused and breathed out as if reconsidering his choice of words. The room remained silent. He breathed in again and carried through.

"I'm going to go on a whim here and say, something happened while I was gone", he stood in silence looking round the room. No one denied his suggestion. "That's a yes then" again no one answered. Beginning to feel awkward Lucifer stood in silence.

They were all saved by Castiel who jumped up and ran towards Lucifer squealing and jumped up into his arms where Lucifer caught him and lifted him up above his head with a laugh.

"Hey Cassie!" he laughed before putting Castiel over his shoulder and carrying him back over to the fire where he had to put him down so he could repeat the same action with Gadreel. Holding Gadreel in the same way Michael had earlier and with one hand on Castiel's head he spoke again, "well I can see you've eaten, but the real question is, did you save any for me?" he said it with a smile and they laughed.

"Why, aren't you to chubby already?" joked Gabriel.

Lucifer laughed, "That's sweet coming from you, sweet tooth!" Then he paused, before saying "but seriously, I'm famished, do we have any food left?"

Michael held out something to Gabriel and withdrew his wings. Gabriel quickly ran past Michael and held out the chicken he had saved to Lucifer.

Lucifer shook his head jokingly and put down Gadreel before opening his mouth, pointing to his open gob he said in a barely distinguishable voice "chuck it in my mouth". Gabriel obliged laughing while handing half of the chicken to Balthazar who had come to join him. Giggling like idiots the twins began chucking pieces of chicken into Lucifer's mouth who was having to move a lot to catch his dinner, quite literally.

Michael shook his head in wonder at the idiots he called siblings. He walked over to the younger ones and picked them both up easily. Silently he paused the game Gabriel, Balthazar and Lucifer were playing and whispered in Lucifer's ear "I'm going to put these guys to bed ok, so can you make sure no ones to noisy", Lucifer nodded at him. Although they fought a lot they loved each other and their family, plus, Lucifer, rebellious as he was, understood that the younger angels needed sleep. Quickly he kissed both of his little brother's foreheads and muttered goodnight, an action mimicked by the other siblings. Michael smiled at his brother and walked down into the basement which was just about large enough to fit all of them when sleeping. Similar to eating, until fully grown, angels needed to sleep like the humans of their age.

Michael tucked his brothers into bed under an old blanket they had stolen from a shop. Both, as it was cold, had their wings tucked round them, Castiel's were a beautiful bluish black colour while Gadreel's were a soft hazel brown, each wing set was messy as they often are with fledglings, although Castiel had just begun learning to fly. Michael smiled fondly at the memory of Lucifer pushing Castiel off a roof, although he had practically freaked at the time. Lucifer was one for the very unorthodox methods of teaching.

Each angel had their own distinct wing colour. Michael's were ivory, Lucifer's were white with red tips, Uriel's were pure black, Anna's were a snowy white, Gabriel's were golden brown, and Balthazar's were black with grey tints. Each angel's wings looked different in design too, Michaels were a set of two, the lower pair were slightly shorter and thinner than the higher pair, the shape was the same for each wing, only for the lower wings were at a downwards slant while the upper wings were at an upward slant, his wing bone curved slightly as it lengthened before becoming straight up until a bend, very similar to a falcons wing structure although his primary feathers were proportionately much longer. Lucifer, again, had a set of two, the lower pair were a completely different type to the top pair, the top pair had a sharp curve upward until the wing bend, where in an almost straight line the wings carried on until the end of the primary feathers, also the primary feathers weren't clumped together like Michaels, they were spread apart and sharper at the end, the lower wings had a flat curve on them, one that went up before going down again, the primary feathers were much smaller than the were on the top pair. Uriel only had one pair of wings and they were a downward slope until the wing bend where they would go straight down to the end of the primary feathers, which were massive starting just after the wing bend. Anna also only had one pair which curved softly upwards until her primary feathers where they carried straight out. Gabriel had two sets of wings which in shape were similar to Lucifer's only the curve on the top set was softer and the primary feathers weren't spread apart or sharp, also the lower wings curve was the opposite to Lucifer's, curving down before going up again to the primary feathers which were proportionately larger and much more prominent. Balthazar's wings were very different to any of his brethren, they went in an almost straight line upwards until the wing bend, which was soft and large, before curving flatly out and in again straight downwards to the end of the primary feathers which were long and sharp. Castiel's were an oddity as well, they were bent like a tick, the one on his right would have looked like a backwards tick to anyone staring his front, the long tail of the tick was slightly curved backward though until the wing bend where they followed a straight line at a slight outwards lilt till the end of primary feathers which were sharp, unlike most other wings the base of his were almost like a base of a circle, this was because of how the top was shaped. Gadreel's wings were very angular almost flat to start with before suddenly turning to proceed in a straight outwardly tilted line to the wing bend where the carried on a straight horizontal line till the end of the primary feathers, which on him were large and spiked although quite clumped together.

Michael, after ensuring both youngsters were soundly asleep, went back upstairs to find what could only be described as chaos. Lucifer was lying face first on the floor trying to shake off the pile of bodies on him. It was obvious that once Michael had gone downstairs Gabriel and Balthazar had waged war on their elders, resulting in Lucifer face planting the floor only to have Anna fall on him followed by Uriel. Balthazar and Gabriel were sitting proudly on top of the angel pile giggling like idiots, well, at least they were until Michael walked up behind them and picked them up by their shirts, at which point they both freaked out and began grovelling about how sorry they were and how it wouldn't happen again. Michael was almost considering letting them off until Balthazar said "well we were quiet about it", at which point he literally dropped them both down the basement staircase, they could fly it was fine.

Soon after both Anna and Uriel went to bed, leaving just Michael and Lucifer awake.

"I swear I am going to kill the twins one day" muttered Lucifer while he tended to his wings that had been a bit messed up in the pile on.

"You love them really" responded Michael. The brothers were sitting legs outstretched leaning on each other's back by the fire.

"Of course I do, but" he paused.

"Their even worse than you were"

"Hey, it's not exactly fair taking there are two of them, AND they have four older siblings, whereas I have one"

"How's that work?"

"Well, two times the people to make trouble, only one person I can properly prank..."

"But..."

"No Michael, if they're a younger sibling then you can't prank them, not properly anyway. Also when I was their age dad had just left"

"Fair enough, now come on lets go to bed" yawned Michael

"Why" whined Lucifer, acting like a three year old now his younger siblings had gone

"Because I'm older" said Michael pulling his 6'4 brother to his feet. "Now move dodo brain" he said pushing his brother towards the basement. Michael did have a sense of humour, but only Lucifer knew of it, that was how he worked, serious and occasionally funny around people and other siblings, while funny or moody round Lucifer. But that was how he was raised, to be a commander like in the military, their father had always told him "they are your troops, keep them safe and make sure they do as their told. Of course he was a little lenient, but still he acted like he was told to by that oh so great disappearing father figure.


	2. Chapter 2

**Pls review! This is my first fanfiction!**

The next morning Gabriel woke up flattened by his twin. Somehow during the night Balthazar had rolled on top of Gabriel without either of the pair waking up. Luckily this had happened multiple times before so Gabriel knew what to, freeing his hand he grabbed hold of Balthazar's feathers and yanked, Balthazar woke with a yell and rather than rolling back to his own bed he rolled the opposite way, landing on Michael. Who, unlike Gabriel who didn't awake with a sudden weight load, woke with a start, yelled, and then stood up rather abruptly, Balthazar was heavy for his twin taking they were the same size, but Michael was practically fully grown, so Balthazar was barely any weight. Balthazar fell onto the floor with a yelp, then Michael, who hadn't properly balanced while standing up, fell on top of him, causing an even larger yelp from both of them.

Unsurprisingly this chain of events had awoken everyone, meaning, Lucifer, Castiel and Gadreel were currently rolling round laughing clutching their stomachs, Uriel and Anna were looking bemused while wiping sleep from their eyes, and Gabriel was sitting trying to stifle laughter but failing miserably as his entire body shook at the sight of his twin face down on the floor, while the eldest, and most mature of his siblings looking bewildered sat on his twins back. All in all it was a reasonable start to the day.

Later that same morning Castiel found a bee hive, it was positioned about 200m from the warehouse amongst a cluster of trees and other plant life. He had been half way up the tree it was on when Lucifer called for him from the bottom of the tree, startled he let go of the tree, and fell. Tumbling to earth he flapped his wings desperately, but they weren't strong enough yet to properly support him and just got hit by the passing branches, he screamed as a branch hit his arm and broke it but he was cut short as his head hit another making him dizzy. Meaning he could barely acknowledge the pair of arms that now cradled him, he screamed louder as pressure was put on his broken arm. He was oblivious to the comforting mumble of his carrier as they carried him into a building, as they entered more rushed voices joined his carriers, only they were louder and made his head hurt, he had successfully screamed himself hoarse and now was laying on the floor, whimpering, and staring through tears at the surrounding group.

Lucifer was freaking out, he hadn't expected Castiel to fall, or break his arm. He had only just caught him before he hit the ground. After running back to the warehouse cradling his precious bundle he now paced anxiously as Michael treated his brother. Michael rebroke the arm which had already began to fix at an alarming rate only in the wrong position and pulled it into a proper position but couldn't properly do it as Castiel was thrashing from the increased pain of his arm.

"Lucifer hold him down" yelled Michael desperately trying to calm his little brother. Lucifer froze, this was all his fault.

"Now!" yelled Michael more urgently. Lucifer moved and pinned Castiel, he used his own leg to pin down his little brothers legs and his forearm and hands to pin the shoulders and unhurt arm. Michael finished resetting the arm and placed his own hand on it, as Michael healed Castiel his eyes turned from their usual sky blue to a glowing, surreal almost electric blue and his wings flared. Castiel's pain filled cry's turned into a slow chain of deep breathing as the broken bones in his arm knitted together.

When the arm was fully healed Michael slumped onto the floor gasping for air, tired from using his so much of his grace, Lucifer climbed off Castiel and moved to help his older brother stand up. Castiel was immediately on his feet but Michael needed more help to get up.

Through gasps Michael asked "What the hell happened?"

"I fell out a tree" muttered before turning away embarrassed at the knowledge this wouldn't have happened to his older siblings who could fly. Michael stared at him baffled, Castiel was a good climber so there was no clear reason for him to have fallen. He glanced at Lucifer, who had carried in the injured angel, for answers.

Sensing his brothers intention he explained, "Um, I went out to find him, like you told me to, and I startled him, so he fell." Lucifer went quiet again and rubbed the back of his neck guiltily.

"Wait, why were you in a tree?" asked Gabriel to Castiel.

Instantly Castiel smiled, his eyes lighting up. "There was a bee! And I followed it and then there was a bee hive but it was in this really tall tree but I wanted to watch the bees so I climbed and…"

"You were following, a bee?" inquired Michael, why anyone would do this past time was beyond him.

"Yes! Did you know that bees are the only insect that produces food people can eat! And that a colony of bees can contain between 20,000 and 60,000 bees, but only ever has one queen bee! Also a bee's wings beat 190 times a second, that's 11,400 times a minute, and more then we flap our wings! And Worker bees, who are all female, are the only ones who will attack you, and only if they feel threatened..." Castiel rattled off into a series of bee facts, which, unbeknownst to him, caused everyone to glare at Michael who had brought on this ramble, well, all but Gadreel who was sitting crossed legs and staring infatuated with the facts Castiel was relaying.

After about 10 minutes Castiel came to a stop, warily Lucifer asked "are those all the facts?"

"Yes" answered Castiel, beaming at his siblings, who sadly did not share his interest in bees and breathed a sigh of relief, apart from Gadreel who looked disappointed.

Quickly moving on, Michael separated them into groups for that days scavenging, "Gabe and Bal, you're together" the twins' fist bumped, "Luci with Anna and Cas, leaving me Uriel and Gad", all of them looked pleased with their groups. "Assignments, the idiots" he said pointing at the twins who weren't pleased with the nickname, "are on clothes, get some large jackets, new blankets, and socks. Luci's group are on food, Cas is fast, but don't get him to steal heavy stuff. Leaving my group on lookout." His group groaned, lookout was hard, you didn't get to rest, unlike the others. "Gad go with Uriel" he said to the youngster, Uriel looked at him with disdain, not only was he on lookout, but _babysitting. _"It's more inconspicuous a little kid with a teen then a young adult" explained Michael with a sigh, he would love to spend time with the youngest of his family but people got suspicious when they saw a little kid hanging round with a 24 year old.

The lookout group left first, about half an hour before the others, so they could scout for any high numbers of police or hunters, they wore large jackets so that their wings wouldn't be spotted. Even though when angel wings were completely withdrawn they were only about 2cm thick at the most, and they barely spread down and angels back, for instance Michael's wings, which were 13ft in wingspan, folded so they only came down from his shoulder to his coccyx and became thinner the further down his back you went. Angel wings were designed so they were nearly impossible to spot unless you were wearing a tight top, it was clever and allowed the angels to mingle with humans without freely even in summer, when they could go out in baggy t-shirts and tops but still be free from prying eyes. But jackets were a precaution.

Gadreel swung his legs back and forth off the gate, acting like a bored 7 year old, which technically he was. Uriel sighed and crossed his arms, leaning back on the gate he watched a group of police moving across the park in the middle of the town. Out the corner of his eye he saw Gabriel and Balthazar entering, they were joking around acting like normal teens, the police hadn't taken interest in them, yet. One of the policemen separated from the group and walked over near one of the department stores, one that Gabriel and Balthazar were headed to, he gave a signal for them to change course. Balthazar picked up on it and dragged Gabriel over to the kid's playground swings, where they would remain until they scouted a better place or opportunity.

Then came Lucifer, Anna, and Castiel. The police watched them, which was to be expected due to the ten year age range, but it was more of curiosity then suspicion and they soon lost interest. They stopped outside a bakery, where they staged a scene, Castiel hit into Anna by 'accident' and she fell onto the display of buns knocking them onto the floor, a worried store clerk came out to see the destruction and help the victim who was being comforted by her older brother, who was, by coincidence, in front of the security camera. While the store clerk helped pick up the fallen buns, the younger brother pocketed a baker's dozen of them while pretending to look worried and repetitively apologise to his sister, it was a good trick and soon Castiel was walking away with 13 buns in his jacket. Lucifer on the other hand, once sure that Castiel was far enough away, smiled and thanked the clerk using his charm an good looks before helping Anna to her feet and supporting her weight as she put on a very realistic limp.

Gabriel and Balthazar made their move, making a deal of seeing how much money they had they walked towards the department store, emerging a few minutes later with bundles under their jackets, they signalled they were going home and left down a different road to the one they came from. There work was done whereas the other group needed to get more food, but had run out of tricks. Slowly they gathered round where Uriel and Gadreel were sitting, Michael got up from where he'd been pretending to study and moved over to the gate greeting Uriel like a friend he hadn't seen in ages.

"What are we going to do know" muttered Lucifer, "We barely have enough to feed us all for two day, and that's only if we really cut down on portions."

"I have an idea" squealed Gadreel, "Come on Cassie!" he called to his brother. Then they began playing it, running everywhere.

"What are they doing and how does this help?" inquired Anna, tilting her head to watch the boys.

"They're playing and wait for them to come back" murmured Michael, Uriel and Anna looked back at Michael and Lucifer, they seemed to know what was going on but weren't intent on sharing. After about 10 minutes the boys returned panting heavily their faces plastered with smiles. "How much did you get?" asked Michael, the boys grinned as they each held out approximately $70.

Realisation dawned on Anna, "oh", she muttered. While running round the boys had been bumping into some people, now she knew it was on purpose so they could pickpocket them. Clever for a couple of kids, but she realised she had seen that same tactic before, Michael and Gabriel used to do it when they were kids, she remembered vaguely watching them do it from time to time, she had only been 4 but they would have been 8 and 12. She was surprised to see that they had taught the two youngest ones to do that, taking Michael was usually against pickpocketing as it was easy to get caught, but then again Castiel and Gadreel were very young and probably no one would suspect them. Grinning Michael took the money and ruffled the boys' heads before heading off to buy food and sending the rest of them home.

As Michael walked out of the corner shop though he fell and broke his ankle, cursing he quickly healed it before anyone came to his aid. His eyes lit up as he healed himself and there was a small ruffle beneath his coat, but unless looking for an angel no one would have noticed. By the time someone was at his side Michael was already getting up grabbing his stuff, he thanked his helper and walked home. His only issue afterwards being a black car which nearly ran him over as it drove down the road as he went to cross.

Honestly, he had not had an amazing day, first one of his brothers rolled on top of him while he was sleeping, then another brother had really broken their arm and he had to fix it while his little brother screamed, then he'd had to listen to ten minutes worth of bee facts, then they had nearly run out of food, then he broke his ankle, and now he'd nearly been run over. Hopefully back at the warehouse it would be better, it wasn't. When he walked in everyone was bickering, the twins were screaming at Uriel and Anna, Gadreel was crying, and Lucifer, who was supposed to not leave them alone because this normally happened when they were left alone, was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Castiel.

Later Michael discovered, after he had stopped everyone else fighting and sent them to bed after dinner, that Lucifer had decided it was a perfect time for flying lessons with Castiel. Michael was not pleased, and after giving Castiel food and sending him to bed, he took Lucifer outside and they argued. All night long they screamed at each other, about independence, responsibility and other things. Their fight caused a power outage over 50 miles in each direction from their spot and a thunder storm lasting 35 hours. It would have been a lie to say this was their biggest fight (2 years ago, power outage all through the state of Florida and massive storms of all kinds over 3 weeks) but it was pretty big, and, against Michael's wishes, which is why he took it outside, none of his siblings got any sleep at all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

**Sorry I haven't updated, I have loads of school work over the holidays and have had family round**

"THERE'S NO FOOD, THERE HASN'T BEEN FOR DAYS MICHAEL! WE WILL ALL STARVE" Gabriel was pissed. A week after the fight Gadreel had got ill, really ill. Angels barely ever got ill, but when they got ill it was highly contagious and really bad, as in affected you for weeks bad. Gadreel was on his second week of illness and Anna and Uriel had just finished their first, Balthazar had only just got it, so far Gabriel and Castiel were the only unaffected ones. Michael and Lucifer had already had it when they were much younger so therefore were immune and responsible for looking after the ill angels. Gabriel and Castiel on the other hand were still able to catch the disease so not allowed to go inside the warehouse where the ill angels were. Instead they had to camp out in the cluster of trees that Castiel had found the bee hive in, which meant Castiel didn't mind, but Gabriel hadn't been allowed to see his other half in 2 days, not to mention they had no food left and Michael wouldn't let Gabriel leave Castiel alone so he could go stealing. Hence why he was pissed and raising his voice to Michael, which surprised both of them.

"Gabe, I know you're upset but we quite simply can't leave Castiel on his own, not to mention we can't have you going out on your own"

"Then Cas can come with me"

"No, he can't, he's too young, and he's good but not skilled enough to go out with only one person"

"But he's gone out with just Lucifer before"

"Exactly, Lucifer's 6 years older than you, and much more experienced at looking out for himself or two people. Remember, a few weeks ago you and Bal nearly walked straight into that policeman", Gabriel looked at his feet embarrassed.

"But we do need food" Gabriel muttered

"Yes, we do", Michael paused and sighed, "I would let you go with Lucifer but, we need someone to look after Castiel"

"If Luci came then Cas could come with us"

"Lucifer would have just got off a shift, I can risk him going alone with you because you can make up for him being tired, but I can't risk Cas, he's a baby and it's irresponsible to expect you and a tired Luci to look out, not only for each other, but him as well"

"Cas is 10, Michael, he's not a baby anymore. And if Cas can't come with us, we CAN leave him behind. We normally let him wander off by himself for a while anyway"

"Yes, but not for as long as you and Lucifer may be away for"

"Come on, Mikey, we do need food" he smiled sweetly at Michael.

"Fine" sighed Michael in defeat, they did need food after all. "On one condition, you're back within 3 hours".

Gabriel nodded gleefully, a smile plastered across his face. Quickly before he left the branch they were sitting on he turned and asked, "Is Bal Ok?" His face changed from glee to concern.

"He's fine, missing you though" Yawned Michael, "Lucifer will be off his shift at midday, give him an hour before you head off", he yawned again, "Now piss off, I've been up since 2 this morning and now it's 7 and the suns coming up, I need sleep."

Happy with this conversation Gabriel jumped off the branch but barely got 1m before a hand grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. "Before you leave, would you be so kind to disable the trap you put on my nest" whispered Michael into his ear, still holding his shirt. Grinning Gabriel clicked his fingers and out of the cluster of sticks and leaves Michael had built for himself, flew a mass of hornets, then a pile of honey tipped over the nest followed by a pile of feathers. Scowling Michael looked at Gabriel who clicked again, and all remnants of the prank disappeared.

"Before you ask, the honey was inedible, the hornets weren't harmed and the feathers were fake" said Gabriel, still grinning. Realising Michael wasn't grinning he quickly said "bye" before flying off the branch, probably to his own nest. Sighing Michael turned and walked over to his nest, he checked it over again for booby traps and then settled down wrapping himself in his wings to block the sun from his eyes and slept.

Castiel was happy, because the bees were happy. Gabriel and Lucifer had left him alone with them about an hour ago, and one was now sitting on his shoulder, gently he stroked it with his pinkie finger and it buzzed happily, well, he thought it was happy buzzing.

He loved camping out of the warehouse, it was like he had his own personal Garden of Eden. There were foxes, rabbits, squirrels, mice and deer, and best of all bees! He and Lucifer had made his nest in the same tree that the bees were in, meaning he had been allowed to observe them all hours of the day. Recently the bees had allowed him to take some honey, although it had been inedible so he had given a lot of it to Gabriel on request. He still had a pot of it in his nest though, along with a scrap book of drawings and observations that he had collected since Anna and Uriel had fallen ill so everyone had been kicked out of the warehouse.

Smiling, he picked up the little bee that had been sitting on his shoulder and placed it on one of the wild flowers he was sitting next to. He got up and wandered over to the small pond he had discovered, silently he flew up into the branches so he could sit and observe any wildlife that came to drink there.

Recently Michael, Lucifer, Gabriel and Balthazar had worked together to teach him how to fly. They had lots of time with a large amount of the family ill. Michael and Lucifer taught him properly in their breaks, and Gabriel and Balthazar worked as a team to teach him good technique seeing as they were on babysitting duty and had no one to prank, with so many lessons and so much practice he had practically perfected flying over the last few weeks. He just needed work on his landing.

_"What you need to do is really focus on control" whispered Michael as they stood the branch. "Concentrate on slowing down before you hit the ground so you can practice on your landing position, when you've got that you will be able to do this", with a wild grin Michael jumped off into the open air, as he fell his wings were practically unfolded but provided just enough resistances to he didn't crash into the ground. He landed dramatically in a style you would have expected from Lucifer, down on one knee, head bowed, one fist held as if punching the ground, his wings flared. Grinning he stood up and beckoned for Castiel to follow him. Castiel jumped and fell much slower than Michael, his wings were fully out only at a tilt so that he would fall rather than hover, as he landed he stumbled slightly and Michael caught him before he fell. "Remember to bend your legs Cassie, or you can't balance" laughed Michael, steadily putting Castiel back on his feet, "it's my shift now but ask the twins if they can show you a few pointers" with a smile he patted Castiel on the shoulder and took off back to the warehouse. Castiel smiled and scaled the tree that they had just jumped off, he watched as his brother landed by the warehouse quickly exchanging words with Lucifer before entering. He took off and glided back to the tree the twins were sitting on enthusiastic about the concept of being taught by them, they weren't serious like Michael and turned flying into a game, which normally they deliberately lost at to give Castiel encouragement, which wasn't needed taking Castiel was already far too enthusiastic_

Castiel stared in wonder as pair of foxes came to drink, their fur was an autumnal red colour and they were both still a bit small, meaning they were probably last year's cubs, his thought was confirmed from how they played together, much like you see cubs in the spring play. Silently he climbed down the tree and sat in the long grass surrounding it, not hiding from the foxes so he wouldn't appear as a threat. One of the foxes noticed him and abruptly stopped gekkering (a noise foxes make when playing or fighting) and stared at him. He spread his wings slightly as a sign of friendship, angels were more connected with nature than humans, so animals were often more drawn to them. The second fox (and larger of the two) lowered its head and trotted over to investigate Castiel, sniffing him all over it eventually decided that he was a friend and began to rub and roll against him making a 'wow wow wow' noise, which foxes use in greeting. At this it's sibling trotted over and greeted him in the same way. Castiel giggled at the two foxes now cuddled up beside his wing, they were both male and defiantly yearlings judging from their size, he would note all of this down later in his nest. Hopefully he would find these two again before he and his family had to move on, cheerfully he stroked his new friends which reacted happily to his affection. He named the larger but more affectionate of the two Zorro (Spanish for fox) and the slightly smaller and quieter one Refur (Icelandic for fox). Smiling he cuddled Zorro who was now resting in his lap. He was really happy, and so were they.

Then a gun shot went off, all three of them froze. Zorro and Refur ran a few meters away from where the sound had come from before turning to get Castiel to follow, Zorro let out a alarm bark and Refur ran back to pull at Castiel's shirt, who was still frozen in place, he stood up looking terrified, shooing the foxes away he turned and ran towards the source of the noise. The warehouse.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Thank you to any one reading this! I would like to apologise for any spelling errors as I normally write these at past 22:00 and don't therefore proof read! Pls review!**

Castiel ran desperately through the undergrowth, thorns battered his face and hands while catching at his clothing and pulling him back. What when he had first seen it had looked like a cluster of about 20 trees on further inspection had turned out to be a woodland area containing about 100 trees, and now he was paying the price for straying too far in. His family needed his help but he couldn't reach them quick enough. As he stumbled a rapid amount of gunshots filled the air. His running became frantic, he fell over as soon as he began to run again, blood gushed into his eyes from as cut on his forehead, he kept running, now blind he followed the noise of the gun.

He couldn't see as he exited the undergrowth, meaning he didn't see the ditch in front of him. He screamed as he fell down the 2 meters of the hole, luckily he landed on his chest and didn't crush his wings. Lying there he felt like crying, so he did, silently he sobbed to himself lying in the water at the bottom of the ditch, the water cleaned the blood from his face and eyes meaning he could see again. But it was no use, he was on the edge of unconsciousness and couldn't move, as the fall had broken his leg, he was helpless like a new born baby. He rolled onto his back and had to bite his lip so he wouldn't scream, that pain ended it for him. He lay there listening to the gun that was finishing off his siblings, he heard them die, an angels final scream echoed in his head like it would to any angel within a mile of there, that was what he listened to has he fell out of consciousness, he listened to a sibling he couldn't even identify dying, wishing for the blackness to take him away from this hellish place, a wish that it obliged.

_"Luci!" he squealed as his older brother ran laughing while carrying Castiel on his shoulders, Castiel unfolded his small delicate wings and let the wind blow through them giggling, he felt like he could fly. This was a happy memory, it had happened exactly a month before Dad had left. It was November 25__th__, and Castiel's 4__th__ birthday. That evening they had all gone out to beach after the sun set so no one was around and they could play freely. Uriel, Anna, Gabriel and Balthazar ran around Lucifer all yelling joyfully, Balthazar jumped on Gabriel's back and shouted a battle cry before tackling their 14 year old brother, Castiel clung laughing as Lucifer was knocked back by his brothers, resulting in all four of them sprawling in hysterics over the sand. Castiel hadn't realised at the time but now, in this relived moment, he sighted his oldest brother and father, Michael was grinning at his sibling while clutching Gadreel's hand so he didn't run off into the water he seemed infatuated with, Gadreel had just turned 1 a few months earlier but had begun walking at 8 months and was already obsessed running. Their father on the other hand looked on, an almost sad expression plastered on his face while he watched his children play, then he placed what seemed an apologetic hand on Michael's shoulder. This confused Michael obviously as he turned to question his father, who had just began to wonder off back to their motel room in the village. _

_Then Castiel was sinking into the sand, he cried out to his siblings for help, but they ignored him and laughed amongst themselves. He closed his eyes and mouth to stop sand getting in them, he didn't remember this. Faces flashed in front of him, they were from a few weeks after dad didn't come back and in the warehouse they'd moved into. _

_Lucifer was yelling at Michael "HE'S NOT COMING BACK, HE LEFT US! HE BETRAYED US!" Michael busied himself with lighting fire, anger rising on his face but not wanting to show it. "FOR FUCKS SAKE MICHAEL, LISTEN TO ME! THAT BASTARD LEFT US AND YOU STILL REMAIN LOYAL AS IF HE'S JUST GOING TO WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR! HE'S NOT! HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT US!"_

_"Yes he does" calmly stated Michael, still not making eye contact, but pissing Lucifer off._

_"IF HE GAVE A SHIT HE WOULDN'T HAVE LEFT US! YOU KNOW THAT HE COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT US! ALL WE WERE WAS A BLOOD RELATION, HE DIDN'T SEE US AS HIS KIDS HE SAW US AS AN ANNOYANCE! SO STOP WAITING ON THAT SHIT HEAD!"_

_Michael snapped, turning sharply he grabbed his brother by his shirt and rammed him against a wall. Michael was 18 while Lucifer was only 14, there was no competition. "Don't you dare talk about him like that you unloyal…"_

_"What? You unloyal what brother?" snarled Lucifer trying to twist out of his brothers grip. Secretly terrified of this development._

_"Yes he's left, no he's not betrayed us. And if you ever speak of him as you just did then, leave, and never come back" Michael snarled into his brothers ear, it was silent but each word had power behind it, not to mention hostility. "Nod if you understand" Whispered Michael, still hostile. Lucifer nodded, not looking at Michael, "Good", Michael dropped Lucifer and walked back to fire lighting as if nothing had happened._

_Lucifer stood still watching his brother, and the side of him he had never seen before. Movement caught his eye as something ducked away from the hole in one of the boarded up windows, he ignored it. "I'm going for a walk" he called out warily to Michael, still shaken from what had happened._

_"Be back by 8" responded Michael with a nod, acting as if nothing had happened. Lucifer ducked his head and walked out. _

_Castiel was scared, blackness was about to take him again and he had just witnessed something he couldn't remember ever occurring. But a nag in the back of his skull said it had. The image began to swirl around him, he felt sick, a voice hissed into his brain making it hurt 'Look what happened to your family, they were so happy, but then you made your dad leave, it's all your fault. If daddy hadn't left the mean hunters wouldn't have found your family, but now they're all dead, all your fault. And you couldn't even be there to try help. You failed Castiel, all you ever do is fail, you pathetic stupid little boy, why would anyone love you, they all hate you' angels appeared in front of him, his siblings, he ran at them crying but the more he ran the further away they got, he fell to the ground and the once blank stares all glared at him, they were laughing at him, jeering, 'everything was good until you arrived' Gabriel and Balthazar whispered in sink, 'you made him leave' hissed Uriel, 'you stupid little prick, daddy didn't want you' hissed Anna in the same tone as her brother, 'Such a disappointment Cas, always doing what you're told but never doing right, and so annoying, I'm surprised Michael even allowed you to stay when daddy left, probably because it's funny to watch you fail' said Lucifer. Castiel crunched up to try hide from the comment but looked up feeling one particular stare, Michaels. 'You pathetic creature, you don't deserve to be part of this family, we are important, royalty even among angels. But you, you made the king leave, you made them rise against us, you are the reason we have to hide, but now they know, and you killed us all' Michael's tone remained neutral but his stare terrified Castiel, where ever he looked there was Michael, glaring into him. Even closing his eyes didn't dispel that glare, he began to sob. _

_'Oh, why are you crying' it was a small child's voice, Gadreel. He opened his eyes and stared at Gadreel, the boy had a knife wound between his ribs, blueish grace glittered from it, but blood was also present and pooled out against the boy's chest. "You're dead, I got you killed" sobbed Castiel, 'No you didn't, you didn't stab me, you didn't attract the hunters who did, it was just misfortune. Now wake up', Castiel starred bewildered at his little brother, the others had said it was his fault, Michael had said it was his fault, 'Get up, make yourself wake up and move, the others weren't real, that's not what they think. You, are my big brother, now move'. Gadreel disappeared. Castiel stood up and wiped his eyes, a door appeared about 10 meters in front of him, he ran towards it but an invisible barrier blocked his way. 'Push against it, break through it, get to that door' the voice of Lucifer was in his head now, urging him on. He ran against the wall, and pushed, a growl of exhaustion turning into a roar of determination, all his siblings were encouraging him now, and they appeared around him, telling him to go on, to break through. And he did._

_He stood infront of the door, all his siblings fell quiet and the smallest walked towards him, he crouched so that Gadreel could whisper in his ear, 'open it'. He reached for the door handle and felt a comforting hand placed on his shoulder, it was Michael, he nodded at Castiel's action, 'go for it' he whispered gently. Castiel reached forward again, turned the door handle, and stepped through._

Castiel took a huge breath of air and sat up abruptly, making him dizzy. His body ached and his sight was blurry as he looked around him. Slowly he realized where he was, in a ditch, sitting in water, drenched. He remembered his dream from when he was out, _'move'_, he pushed up onto his feet but nearly fell back down again as a jolt of pain bolted up his left leg, it was no longer broken but still hurt, like all his other wounds. Forcing himself to put pressure on it he surveyed his surroundings from a standing position, the ditch was much higher than him, there was no chance of climbing out, so he had to fly, he practically jumped out with the help of his wings. Next he needed to remember where he was, he recognized it, if he headed north for 100m he'd be by the warehouse. The warehouse, the memory of the previous hours dawned on him. He had probably lost all chance of helping while he'd been out but he still needed to try, there was a clearing in the trees above him, a quicker route then the forest, he took it.

His flying was almost as reckless as his running had been, his wing tips hit the tops of trees as he flew toward the warehouse, which he crashed on the roof of. He stepped off and dropped to the floor, hitting it so hard jolts ran up his legs, but he didn't pause. As he scrambled into the warehouse there was deathly silence, the only sound that echoed through was the noise the door made when he opened it. As he stared over the room only one thing was present, a bundle of white in the middle. It took Castiel a second to realize that the messy bundle of blood and white was Michael, blanketed in his own wings.

"Michael?" stuttered Castiel. The bundle made no response, if not for the presence of grace and no ghostly outline of wings Castiel would have thought him dead. He ran to his brother, desperate for a response and to help. Fading wet footprints trailed behind him, the sound they made as they hit the ground echoed throughout the room. When he was within a meter of Michael though something hit his shins, he fell with a cry onto Michael.

Suddenly the bundle stirred, becoming conscious of Castiels presence, "Cas?..." it questioned. The blue eyes flickered open and focused on his face, then suddenly snapping open like a mad mans the owner of them moved, jolting into an upright position, ignoring the pain obviously affecting its body. "CAS RUN….". The warning came too late, a ring of fire circled the two of them, about 3m in diameter, "no" stuttered the creature Castiel knew to be his brother as it stood, only to stumble as soon as it was upright. "no, no, NO" the creature was moving now, Castiel, still positioned on the floor, scrambled to get away from the feet that moved almost uncertain of their positioning only careful not to cross the fire. "Castiel, don't cross the fire, or you'll die" it warned now talking directly to the unnerved child sitting on the floor, "please don't cross it, I don't want to watch you die too." The creature collapsed into a crossed legged position, moaning as it pushed the bloody matted blonde mop off its head. There were cuts and bullet holes scattered across his torso, leaving behind the raggedy remains of a shirt, small bits of blue light leaked from each hole, illuminating the blood and almost making it appear beautiful, if not for the circumstances it was present by.

Castiel sat, legs outstretched, staring wide eyed at the seemingly broken remains of his eldest brother, who was still yet to look up from his lap, no presence of wings were apparent on him, Castiel knew they were now tucked away, they had been tucked away as Michael stood, but the lack of them was eerie. He was terrified, Michael was the powerful one, the proud one, the one who could always defend them and knew exactly what to do, but that seemed to have disappeared from what appeared an empty vessel infront of him. He looked away, almost scared to view his brother, wishing he would hug him, tell him he had a plan, or just comfort him, all of which was very apparent not going to happen. He stared around the room, looking for evidence of what had happened.

The walls were scattered with bullet holes and he could sense remnants of angel blood, all round the room. There were markings, he didn't recognise them at first, but he stared at one set for a while and realisation dawned on him. Angel wings. The ghostly shadow of what had once been now carved into the walls and floor of the building. He recognised the pair he was staring at and his stomach turned, _Gadreel_. The small delicate wings spread across the wall, the wingspan was only 8ft, just less than double his height of 4'5, as young angels often were as they could not use them.

"He killed him first". Castiel turned shocked to his brother, now speaking in a tone Castiel was not used to, it contained little if any emotion. "Then they took out me, stopped me from being able to do anything, after that the rest were easy meat, I watched them die, all but Balthazar, I think I was out when that happened, they hit him with a bullet right after me, well the older one did. There were two hunters, one older and a slightly younger one. The younger one was worse, he took out Gaddy without a second thought, I don't think he even realized until they were moving the bodies how young he was. He's also the one who set up this trap, and beat me up, stabbed me, shot me, harmed me as much as possible without killing me. Bastard. He knew there were others on our group, reckon he saw us in town, wouldn't stop boasting to my face how there was only one left. He must have got Gabe and Luci." He paused and looked round, Castiel watched pain fill his eyes as they passed over the wings of his siblings. His eyes settled back on Castiel, "I know it's in your nature to always want to help, but you should have run while you had the chance, little prince."

Castiel stared confused at his brother, he had always thought the thing about being angel royalty was just a joke made up by his brothers and sister. Michael noted the confusion, "We are the equivalent of the angel royalty system Castiel, that wasn't a joke, that's why we kept away from other angels after he left. They knew that the king was gone and none of his heirs were ready to take the throne, so they turned on us and tried to claim power for themselves. We are more powerful than any other angel Castiel. And that didn't help us much, look at this situation. The two remaining heirs sitting in a ring of holy fire waiting for the hunter that caught them to come back and decide their fate." Michael laughed at what he had said, scaring Castiel, his brother seemed to have gone crazy.

"Come on Cassy" gently said Michael, changing his tone and body language completely, gesturing for Castiel to come to him, he obliged. Only when he was lying blanketed in Michaels loving embrace and wings did he realise how tired he was, and he drifted into a world where this hell hadn't happened. Only a few words from the outside world seeped into his dream world, a few words muttered by Michael, whose eyes were also closing above Castiels head, "I couldn't save the others Cas, but they'll only get you when I have breathed my last breath."

With that Castiel though back on the words his brother had said earlier. He had been right, Castiel should have run when he had the chance.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Pls review! Thank you! **

**Also for Michaels description of John in this chapter, if you disagree with it that's ok this is just my view of how he'd hunt, and Michael is seeing him as a bad guy here.**

Michael felt groggy, but that was the nicest he had felt for a while. His torso had been ripped to shreds, all but a killing blow to end his suffering, he had watched his younger siblings die, the youngest being seven, he had been tormented with the death of the two he had not seen die, including the one he had quite possibly known best out of all of them, and now he was sitting helpless with his last sibling, one that the hunter would surely kill infront of him just to watch his face turn. The hunter hated him. That he was certain of, no idea why, didn't care, there wasn't much reason to. The hunter would kill him either way, he thought of the name the older one had called him, Winchester, obviously a surname, and he knew enough of humans to know that. The older one was called Bobby, most likely short for Robert, likely from the look and sound of him Bobby Singer, rough, working class type, the old, bearded man who had walked in guns blazing fitted the description perfectly. Winchester, he was less sure about, uncommon surname, but he recognized the word well he didn't know why but it was imprinted in his head, no connection to it just a word that had first appeared in his head 14 years ago on January 24th. Maybe this was why, his 10 year old self had somehow known of the man who would be his destruction 14 years before it happened.

Footsteps echoed behind him, Winchester was back, alone. Castiel stirred, Michael had a plan, an awful one but it was the best he had, and the only one that might ensure the safety of one member of his family.

"Lie completely still, stay hidden, don't make a sound, no matter what happens, and at your first chance get out the circle." He whispered into Castiels ear in a pitch only angels could hear, Castiel lay still, giving no hint of hearing Michael. He took a deep breath and adjusted his wings so they covered the young angel, he positioned himself so he appeared to be meditating, wings positioned carefully in a dome round his body, legs crossed, head bowed, eyes closed, palms held facing upwards, but his position hid Castiel well.

"Turn around" boomed a voice from behind him. Winchester. He remained still.

"I'm not an idiot, angel, you're awake, Angel's don't sleep."

Winchester was wrong, Angel's do sleep, when their young or healing.

"You missed a word" answered Michael.

"What?"

"You should have said 'Please, turn around', manners are very important". Silence from Winchester, it had worked.

Winchester walked round the outside of the fire, it was slow and predatory, Michael still had his eyes closed but could imagine the scene. A ring of fire surrounding a young adult with smart, smooth, honey gold hair, meditating in the middle. A 40ish man circling slowly like a snake ready to pounce on its cornered prey, the silver knife remaining steady in his hand, unlike how it might have in the hand of a younger, and this man knew hunting well, he cared about precision, he didn't see it as a game, but a duty, everything he did was calculated to the extreme. It was almost laughable how Michael recognized this behaviour, it was like a cross between him and Lucifer. Lucifer calculated and predatory, knowledgeable about the art of killing, but unlike the hunter he plays with his weapons, and saw the battle field as a game. Himself, also calculated and knowledgeable, but not predatory, precise and duteous in his act, he killed to protect his family, careful not to slip up or it may mean death for his sibling. Lucifer didn't kill for fun, he killed to protect, but didn't put as much meaning behind it as Michael did, he hadn't been enforced with protecting his family, no matter the cost.

The snake stopped facing Michael face on, he felt the stare, calculating, looking for weakness.

"Who set off the trap?" he questioned.

"I did" Michael spoke, eyes snapping open and straightening his back convening all power at this man.

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe I missed your company Winchester", the man looked taken aback.

"How…"

"I heard Bobby Singer say it while you massacred my family", Winchester settled again. Michael realised why the man had been so worried and a wry smile set across his face, "Ah, you were worried that us supernatural's had been talking about you, trying to keep a low profile are we? What, don't want someone knowing about your skill, or are you worried they might find out you're on their tail and hide again?" the man's face gave away the answer, "You're tracking someone aren't you? Well don't let me put you at ease, we don't talk to others, better things to do then go do monster coffee morning, besides have you met them, talk about uncivilized, they spend half their time butchering each other."

"You angels aren't any better, different groups killing each other for no reason, but then that's recent, only last 5 years or so, your youngest probably doesn't know any different" Winchester smiled as Michael snarled at the mention of Gadreel.

"He was a child!"

"So the snarks gone now hasn't it, one mention of your flock and instantly we're back in leader mode"

"Shutup"

"I don't really mind killing kids, they grow into creatures like you after all, a savage, so, on a guess here I'm going to say you were the child of your flock and then hunters came to wipe them out, but one of them couldn't kill a little, cute, blonde hair blue eyed kid. So you moved on, grew up and recruited your own flock, shame that hunter didn't kill you then, that would have spared you all this pain. Spared them all this pain…"

"I SAID SHUTUP YOU BASTARD, THEY WERE MY FAMILY! DON'T YOU WALK IN HERE AND ACCUSE US OF BEING SAVAGES, YOUR KIND SLAUGHTERS EACH OTHER IN THE THOUSANDS, YOU KILL CHILDREN AND SAY IT'S JUSTIFIED, AND YOU CALL ME A SAVAGE. HOW MANY HUMANS HAVE YOU KILLED? YOU'RE EX MILITARY FOR FUCKS SAKE, I'VE NEVER KILLED A HUMAN IN MY LIFE, IF ANYONE IN THIS ROOM'S A SAVAGE IT'S YOU!" Michael was standing now, he was tense in a fighting position, legs bent and apart, fists clenched. His wings were spread making him seem larger then already he was, and more powerful. He was panting from his outburst, and oblivious to the wounds that had reopened, once again the warm, sticky, blood soaked his ruined once white t-shirt.

Winchester watched him studying, this outburst had changed nothing in his approach, and it was what he had been waiting for. Now he could get information, the angel's guard was down.

"What do you mean by family?" John was genuinely interested, this line of the outburst had mi9norly confused him.

The angel stood in silence, his face was hardened and all he did was glare.

_Shit_ thought John, turning away to think, this angel wasn't going to say anything. He was far to pissed off to cooperate at all with him. Leave him to stew, he thought, but then again he didn't have time, and he was pretty sure this angel wasn't going to talk, ever. It was time to finish this job.

He turned back to face the angel he had imprisoned, he was still in his power stance, not that it scared John, he had faced much older, more powerful, angels than this one, although, this one had almost triple the amount of power normal for its age, so had the others from this flock, to be honest he had never seen angels so young before without a much older angel. As John stepped into the circle, knife glistening in hand, he almost felt bad. This angel had lost everything, and was still young, early twenties he predicted. And know John was going to kill him.

The angel turned defensive as John approached, tucking back his wings and holding his arms infront of his body, but John obviously would win, he had an angel blade, and wasn't already weak from previous attack. They engaged in combat. As they fought it was almost like boxing, careful not to step out of the ring and a succession of punches and blocks. The angel kicked him in the chest and John fell onto his back, the angel approached again but John quickly kicked up into the angels jaw. The angel stumbled back and something large appeared to fall off his back, but John had no time to check it out as he was blocking an onslaught of punches from his opponent, his opponent got in a clean shot to his face. John stumbled back, shit, his nose was broken, the blood from it dripped over his lips. John wiped it away as he and his opponent circled, he only had eyes for him now, this needed to end. He planned his attack carefully, the angels' forearms were shredded from blocking the blade, and he appeared to be getting tired. John calculated his attack, go for a punch and stab under the block, easy. He charged, and felt the blade pierce through the skin of his opponent.

Michael would have cried out, but all he did was gasp hoarsely. He had only realised the hunters move as the tip of the blade cut into him, and then it was too late. He slumped onto the hunter gasping for air, and Winchester held his weight, almost like a friend would, making sure he wouldn't fall murmuring comfortingly into his ear. It was horrible, almost like some kind of trick, two enemies, now embracing each other as one died. Slowly Winchester lowered him to the ground, keeping one arm supporting his head and back, while the other hand secure on the blade in his chest. His lungs screamed for air as he lay there, Winchester still kneeling comfortingly over him, and now leaning down to whisper in his ear, Michael tried to move away but was held still.

"It's okay, it's okay, calm down, I'm sorry about your siblings, they were too young to die, but one day they would have grown up, and I can't risk people dying because I was to weak." He paused to push the hair out of Michael's eyes. "I'm sorry, but all kids grow up, and kids of monsters grow to be monsters worse than their parents". Michael was nearly dead but still found this sentiment hilarious, and he giggled slightly before coughing up more blood.

"Then God help us for when your kids grow up" he giggled, blood escaping his mouth with each word. "Now kill me already".

Winchester stared at him almost with regret, and twisted the knife, ending Michaels 24 years on earth, without even knowing his name.

John stepped back from the body as the angel died, blue light screamed out of him, the warehouse rumbled accompanied by almost bangs as the angel died, and with a final bang it ended. The body of the young man fell limp. He felt odd about this killing, the blue light was normal in death, but what had accompanied this one wasn't usual, infact, it had never occurred before when he killed an angel. He was also uneasy because as he had twisted the knife the angel had muttered something, 'Cas'.

"NO!" the voice of a young boy screamed out, shocking John.

He turned quickly brandishing the blade but a small body pushed past him before he could stab him. He turned back to the body, there was a young boy, probably Sam's age crying and shaking over the body of the angel he had just killed.

"Michael wake up, please wake up, please" the boy whimpered.

This must have been the missing angel. At least this one would be easier to kill then the previous. John moved in for the kill.

Castiel couldn't believe it, Michael was dead, no, he wouldn't believe it. He sobbed over the body of his oldest brother, calling his name over and over, begging for him to wake up. It wasn't that he didn't understand death, it was that he didn't want to believe his carer, his brother, practically his father, was dead. He shook Michael's body, it was difficult, Michael was giant, and 14 years older than him, not to mention Castiel was shaking so badly he couldn't do anything. He heard a footstep behind him, and remembered the thing he had forgotten in grief. Winchester, the hunter, was still here. Something grabbed his shirt collar and he was hoisted into the air, face to face with Winchester, a sharp spike pressed against his stomach.

John stared at the kid in his grasp, and hesitated. The kids cheeks were wet with tears, and he was obviously terrified, the boys eyes were wide and his entire frame was shaking. While he had the chance he examined the creature in his grip. Sapphire blue eyes, very distinctive, blackish brown mop of hair, there were remnants of twigs and mud in it, must have been in the woods when he and bobby had wiped out the others. He believed his prediction was right, they boy was about 10, but tall for his age, taller than Sam, but slightly shorter then Dean had been. He was a normal build but athletic obviously, again quite like Dean.

He pressed the bland harder and it broke the skin, the boy made a noise, half between a whimper and hiss, similar to Sam or Dean when they were hurt but didn't want to show it. He pushed again, but stopped, crap, he couldn't do it. He had let this kid remind him of his own, and now he couldn't kill him, no matter how much of a monster it was. Crap. He couldn't leave the kid here, if the police came the kid would probably tell them about him. The last thing he needed was the police knocking down his door in the middle of the night. The kid had to come with him. Crap.

He dropped the kid, expecting him to follow when told.

"Look kid…"

The kid kicked him in the skin and made a run for it. The holy fire had burnt out so the kid was headed for the door. John cursed himself and ran after the kid, catching him easily, a 10 year old was no match for a fit 40 year old, no matter how fit the kid was.

Plan B: carry the kid. That didn't work either, the kid struggled and hit him in the face quite a few times, which wasn't good for his broken nose.

Plan C: knock out the kid. This was his least favourite, he had no tranquilisers with him, so instead he had to strangle the kid. He hated it, it took him about 3 minutes before the kid went limp and stopped pushing at his arms as he held the kid from behind. Quickly he checked the pulse, it was strong, he'd use something that was less physical at the motel.

Silently and quickly he worked. He put the kid in the car carefully, then packed up all his own stuff into the boot. Then he heaved the heavy body of the angel, Michael the kid had called him, into the woods to be burnt. He stopped by a tree trunk and sat watching the body burn on the pyre he had created. While he watched he dreaded what Bobby would say, Bobby had already gone back to the boys at his house, leaving John to clean up the mess Bobby had been against leaving. "You can't leave the guy like that! It's bloody cruel Winchester" had been his last words before driving off back to his house. What he would say when he saw the kid he had no idea. Then again Bobby was good with kids, he could sort this out. He didn't even have a prediction on how Dean would act, Sam would most likely be fine, but Dean… there was no telling. Not that he was going to let them anywhere near the kid angel, especially Sam. Yeah, the angel was a kid, but it was still an angel, and therefore a monster.

The fire had burned out now, sighing he grabbed his kit that he used to make the fire and headed back to the car. What was he going to do with a kid monster?


	6. Chapter 6

** Chapter 6**

John had stopped calling it a he a while ago, calling it that would just make it harder to do what he had to do, kill it. At the moment he was driving to Bobby's with it tied up, handcuffed, sitting unconscious (from a knock out drug) in the back of his car, he was so screwed. Why he hadn't just killed it then he would never know, Bobby was going to kill him, even though Bobby had been against killing a kid in the first place, tying one up and bringing it back with him was probably not what Bobby had wanted. Well, there was no turning back now, he was only an hour from Bobby's. He turned on the radio, classic rock station, he tried to ignore the issue on his mind, _how would the boys act? _Bobby he knew, but his own kids… that was another story, Dean would still do what he was told, no matter what he felt, he was good like that, but Sam, Sam wasn't obedient like his brother, if he didn't like it, he wouldn't do it, so how the hell would he react when he brought in a monster his own age with the intention of killing it?

A small grunt interrupted his thoughts, he looked up into his rear view mirror, the angel was waking up, forcing its eyes open before inevitably shutting them again. John sighed, he had been hoping the drug he had given it when it woke up originally would have kept it under till Bobby's. He wasn't worried about it braking lose, the bindings it was tied in were angel proof, so matter how ridiculously strong it was, it couldn't get out of its constraints. John leaned back and yanked the duct tape off the kids mouth, the kid winced but didn't cry out, which was impressive, he didn't think Sam or even Dean could do that.

"Nice to see you're awake." What was he doing? "What's your name?"

It didn't answer, instead it just glared at John, a stare that was half anger and half terror.

"Not very talkative are you, not that it matters, wouldn't change your circumstances" laughed John, concentrating on the road.

Castiel was freaked, not that he was showing it. He had no idea where he was, he couldn't use any of his powers, his head was completely numb, _and silent, _worst of all his family was dead, and the man driving this car, the man who he was at the complete mercy of, was the one responsible. He wanted to cry, Uriel, Anna, Gadreel, Balthazar, Gabriel, Lucifer, _Michael_, all dead. He was alone.

He shifted his weight forward allowing his head to hang over his chest, so he wouldn't have to look at the killer infront of him. A shiver ran through his body as he held back a sob, why, why was this happening to him? He scrunched his eyes shut, desperately trying to hold back tears now forming in his eyes. He failed, some slipped out, forming small wet circles on his cargo pants, he looked up to see if the hunter had seen, thankfully he hadn't, quickly he used his bound hands to wipe away any remaining tears in his eyes. When he was sure there were no remaining tears in his eyes he began to make an attempt at getting the handcuffs off, Lucifer had taught him how to get handcuffs, zip ties and rope binding off, but none of the methods worked.

"Don't try, they're made so your kind can't get them off, and they supress all your power"

Castiel froze, and slowly looked at the man in the front of the car. Before sitting back with a huff, desperate to not show how truly terrified he was. The man turned back to the road. Castiel next tried to get the bindings off his ankles, they were rope, and he could surely get them off without his power. Slowly he wriggled his feet and ankles, the rope began to get tighter woven with itself, meaning it loosened off, dragging with an opposite heel he pulled each foot out. Now he had a chance. He positioned his hands so one finger was on the door latch, and crunched his legs up to his chest, resting his feet against the chair infront of him ready to push. His head collided with the chair as the car suddenly stopped.

John took his foot off the brake, the kid was dazed from the unexpected halt, good. He jumped out the car before swinging open the door to the back seats and dragging the kid out onto the roadside. He had noticed what the kid had been doing when it had got its first foot out, but he'd waited, it had been interesting to watch, the kid was obviously smart and knowledgeable about what it was doing, but not better then himself, who had been doing this for the last 10 years, and ex-military, giving him a keen eye.

He had his foot pressing down on the kids' chest, both of them were breathing heavily, the kid from its struggle to breath under his boot, and him from the short burst of energy he had just performed. The kid began to struggle against the boot but John just pressed harder, until the kid could barely breathe and each time it inhaled a small noise exited its mouth.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" demanded John, leaning so his shadow smothered the kid, who just lay staring at him with a mix of fear and hatred.

"Screw you". It was quiet, and could have easily been missed in any other situation.

"What?" John leaned closer to the kid.

It lay in glaring, moving slightly to accommodate room for the pair of wings it had released in attempt to regain balance, and consequently footing, when dragged out the car.

"I said screw you, murderer"

John straightened up, this kid had said nothing to build up to this outburst, and John almost laughed at the audacity of it.

"Damn right I killed your little 'family' of monsters, I sliced into them and they screamed, I watched the blood drip out of them and saw the pain as they died. But I don't care, and that doesn't make me a murderer, you have to kill people to be a murderer. You lot aren't people, you are monsters who pretend to be people, as far as I'm concerned you aren't any better than the dirt under my boot. Which is quiet interesting taking your position right now." John paused, this kid was shaking, anger filled its eyes, all fear replaced with a need for vengeance, it irritated him, this was the behaviour he found disgusting. Such weakness, a loss of control, of _humanness,_ then again it wasn't human, he couldn't be surprised, this is what he had to train out of Sam and Dean.

Grunting he lifted the kid up by the collar on its shirt and rammed it into the impala. The fear was trickling back in again, John was pleased to see.

"Here's how it's going to go. You're going to sit in the front with me, we are going to a house, when we are there you talk to no one but me unless I say so, and that right is revoked once I leave or they leave. Once we have whatever information we need out of you, you're dead, understand?" John stared unblinking at the kid, it nodded. "Good, if you cooperate then we'll give you a clean quick death. Now get in."

John pushed the kid into the car before entering himself, this time it would be riding shotgun, to make sure it wouldn't try anything again. John sighed and started the engine, giving a quick glance at his captive, who was staring out the window, before driving down the road. The wings had been folded back when he had pushed it against the car, hidden beneath the shirt it wore. The wings were interesting, he had noted when taking out the others that the wings where far more complex in colour and shape than any angels he had faced in the past, whose wings were always like the stereotypical angel wings, and although colour varied it was dull compared to this flock. Maybe it related to the advanced strength these possessed, he hated to admit it but he had no idea.

They got to Bobby's just after dusk, later then John had wanted, but still in good time. He stepped out the car and walked round to the passenger side, swinging the door open to be greeted by a look of fear.

"Get out"

The kid stepped out, stretching slightly and taking in the new surroundings. John pulled out a blindfold and tied it round the kid's eyes before it could memorize the area, he grabbed its shoulder to move it towards the house but was interrupted.

"Dad!" Dean stood in the doorway, a grin spread on his face before he composed himself.

John was thankful that only Dean was up, forever the good soldier, he would do what he was told. John watched as Deans eyes settled on the angel, first his eyes filled with interest, but that faded to confusion as they settled on the bindings.

"Dad, who..."

"Dean, just get the stuff from the car inside, and stay out the basement, me and Bobby will be down there for a while."

"Yes, sir" came the response, automatically rolling of his tongue.

John pushed the angel forward, walking past Dean into the house, tossing the car keys to him as he passed. He headed straight for the basement, no point in wasting time. He carried the kid down the stairs, it saved time, and dropped him on an old sofa before removing the bindings and blindfold. The kid reacted instantly as its eyesight was returned and scrambled into the corner of the sofa, wrapping itself into a ball and burying its head. John scowled and switched on the lights, which added a bit of light to the room, allowing him to watch the bundle more closely, pathetic.

"Before you try anything, this entire house is monster proof, you can't get out, you're weakened, and your powers are useless." The bundle didn't react.

"BOBBY, GET DOWN HERE!" steps echoed above him as Bobby came to join them.

"Why in hells name do you have a boy down here Winchester?" Bobby's ruff voice filled the room.

John marched over to the bundle and shoved it round so its back was exposed, he lifted up the shirt so Bobby could see the wings beneath. The kid reacted badly and pulled away from John, jumping of the sofa and backing away from the two men, spreading its wings as it went.

"Why the hell is an angel in my basement?!" Bobby paused to stare at the kid, "Winchester you idjit, if you don't explain…"

"I killed the big male but kept this one, which came after you left and triggered the trap. I have a theory that this particular flock knows something, and there's some stuff the big male said that I want to have clarified."

"And what do you plan on doing once he's answered?"

"Once I have everything I want from it I'll kill it"

"John, he's a kid, and terrified! You can't just kill him!"

"It's a monster who will grow up to hate those who have my name and those who carry the brand hunter. I have no choice but to kill it. Besides, all kids grow up, baby monsters become adult monsters if you let them grow up."

"I swear Winchester you heartless… I'll help you question him but I don't want any part of killing a kid" John nodded at Bobby's conditions. Bobby sighed and looked round the basement for somewhere to keep the angel. "Put him over there, attach him to the chains, it'll keep him in the same place, and we can't use holy oil without a risk of suicide"

John grabbed it, it didn't struggle as he pulled it over to the corner and attached it to the chains. He didn't think the fight had gone out of it, just that it was too afraid to do anything at the moment.

Castiel was frozen, he huddled seated into the corner of the room hiding his wrists that the chains surrounded. The main hunter, John, was smiling at this reaction, the other hunter, Bobby, was much quieter and didn't seem very pleased with what John had dragged him into.

John was closer to him, about a meter away.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell us everything we want are you" he questioned, crouching to eye level with Castiel, examining every twitch and movement made. Castiel remained silent, staring back at the man. "I guess not" John sighed and stood, turning to face his friend. "Let's leave it overnight, and see how it feels come morning".

He headed up the stairs with Bobby, muttering about someone called Sam? As they exited from sight the lights of the room switched off plunging Castiel into darkness. It was cold down here, and so dark, Castiel hugged his body with his wings, they acted as a partial blanket for him. He hoped to his absent father that he would get out of this place soon, he didn't care if that exit was through death, he just wanted out. Out of a world without his family, out of a world of fear, out of a world where he was only alive because of some information he contained. Cold tears trickled down his cheeks, and that's how stayed, huddled, crying, cold, sitting in a basement. The tears only stopped when tiredness finally took over and plunged him into deep sleep full of nightmares, of people he had lost.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Sorry for not updating in ages, everything has been hectic and I had to think up some good ideas**

"Dean"

"Yeah Sammy"

He had just been putting his little brother to bed while Dad and Bobby were in the basement. The kid that was in the basement was the reason they had stayed here so long, it had been a week already. He and Sam had stayed at Bobby's longer before but never with dad, it felt weird.

"Why's there a kid in the basement?"

"It's not a kid Sammy it's a monster pretending to be a kid."

"How do you know?"

Dean kidded his brother's forehead like he had always done, why did he have to be so nosey?

"Because dad told me, and dad's always right" Dean sighed and walked to the door turning the light off.

"I heard him crying, monsters don't cry" whispered Sam before Dean closed the door.

"He was trying to trick you"

"But…"

"Sammy shut up and go to sleep, if you want to know so bad talk to dad"

"Night Dean…"

"Night Sammy."

Dean closed the door and went downstairs to watch the TV. His dad and Bobby where sitting at the table in Bobby's kitchen with beers out talking about the angel downstairs. He hadn't told Sammy it was an angel, Sam still clutched to the idea of biblical angels and guardian angels and would most likely do something stupid if he found out there was one in the basement.

Secretly he had mixed feelings about what his dad was doing and agreed with Bobby for the most part. When they thought Dean wasn't listening or couldn't hear them he had heard them talking about the boy downstairs. It just so happened that this was one of those times.

"It's not right John. Keeping that kid down there. He obviously has no idea what we're on about."

"It knows something."

"No he doesn't you stubborn bastard. The poor kids terrified and starving!"

"Bobby, you're supposed to know about supernatural creatures, angels don't eat!"

"Well this one obviously does"

"It's a trick, trying to lower our defences so it can run"

"John, I can see his ribcage through that shirt he wears, his wings look like hell, he flinches at everything and the only thing you've gotten out of him is something about killing his family"

"Well that's something."

"What the devil are you on about?"

"If, like you insist, he is starving. Then we know that young angels need to eat. And most likely sleep as sometimes when I've gone down in the mornings it looked like it was asleep. And, doesn't it seem strange that whereas any other angels we've run into have called there groups flocks this one, and the other one back at the warehouse, calls theirs family. Bobby, this is a goldmine of information, we just have to trick the information out of it."

"And how do you plan on that. He hates you. Probably blames you for killing his whole flock. Not to mention he doesn't like me much either, although he seems to care more about you."

"That's probably because I killed the leader of the flock in front of it and kidnapped it."

"Yeah probably, so what's your plan? If it were up to me I would put the boy out of his misery. But I'm to mush of a softy to kill a scared kid who's not trying to kill me."

"What if it were more inclined to talk to someone in its age group." Dean realised his dad was looking at him and tried to look like he was watching the TV.

"John, you can't be serious. Dean's 14."

"But has also been listening to practically all our conversations about the angel. Dean I know you're listening get over here."

Dean got off the sofa and turned off the TV before walking like a naughty school boy over to the table where Bobby and his dad sat. He quickly sat down in a chair at the end of the table so he wasn't next to either of the men.

"So Dean. How would you feel about questioning an angel in a way that makes it think it's not being questioned?"

"I'll do it if you want."

"See Bobby the kid's up for it."

"John you can't just chuck your son in a room with a dangerous creature."

"He wants to do it he can do it. And it's not like I would send him down unarmed! Dean, go to bed, you're down there in the morning"

"Fine, but I'm not having any part of it." Bobby got up left the house slamming the door.

"He'll come round" murmured Dad "Dean go to bed" Dean left


End file.
